Kailash Satyarthi says education can help prevent HIV

New Delhi: Noble Laureate and the famous child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi said on Tuesday that education is the key to bringing transparency and accountability in the society and solve problems of poverty and unemployment.

Delivering the United Nations public lecture on the importance of education in India, he said development and human rights were interlinked.

My organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan has been advocating education for all, especially children. We cannot get rid of poverty and unemployment without education.

Satyarthi also spoke on the issue of HIV/AIDS as December 1 is also marked as World AIDS Day.

Even today in many societies and cultures, people who are suffering from HIV/Aids are discriminated (against). The only way we can bring down this stigma is through education.

“We found that seven million cases of HIV could be prevented if we are able to impart education. Primary education can help prevent seven million cases of HIV over the 10 years,” he added.

Satyarthi said that his organisation has been demanding that six percent of GDP should be spent on education.

Education is the key to bring transparency and accountability in the society. It is our collective responsibility to get our children educated. The vision I have is to see every single child to be in school, in a playground,

Satyarthi also noted that child labour in India has seen a drastic decline in the recent years from 244 million to 168 million.

UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in India Yuri Afanasiev, and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka Shigeru Aoyagi were also present at the event.

Around 53 per cent children in India face sexual abuse. In India, at least 10 children are sexually abused daily. Thus there is an urgent need to address the problem. This is what the Safe Childhood Safe India campaign is all about.

October 2, 2017: Sexual Exploitation of Children is one of the leading concerns for authorities in India. Around 53 per cent children in India face sexual abuse. In India, at least 10 children are sexually abused daily. Thus there is an urgent need to address the problem. This is what the Safe Childhood Safe India campaign is all about.

A national level walkathon has been organized in Indore in order to bring to light the devastating situation in our country relating to sexual abuse of Children. This walk has been termed as the “Bharat Yatra” undertaken with the initiative ‘Bachpan Surakshit, Bharat Surakshit’ (Safe Childhood, Safe India) and is taking place on October 3, 2017. The rally organized by the crucial partner for the event, ‘Young Indians (Yi)’ will commence from Khandawa Road, DAVV Campus at 9:30 pm and will end at Holkar Science College. Kailash Satyarthi, the Nobel Prize Winner for Peace will address the crowd after the rally has concluded. It is his foundation which has launched the safety walk.

Young Indians (Yi) is a part of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) which is non-government, not for profit organization which has played an integral role in the development of India. It was developed in 2002 with a vision to help the young people of India to realize and develop their potential.

child sexual abuse – pixabay

As told by Pooja Bhatt of Yi, “As a part of their 100 million campaign activities in India, the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF) has launched the “Bharat Yatra” in order to promote the concept of safe childhood for a safe nation. She furthered explained the objective of the campaign which was to break the silence that surrounded the sexual exploitation of the children and to urge the authorities to protect the children all over the country. This walk also provides support to the already exploited children and spreads awareness that they are not alone and encourages them to lead a normal life. This march was started off on September 11 and is to be continued until October 16. It is primarily being led by Kailash Satyarthi and is spread across 22 states and union territories of the country. The reach out level of this really is more than 10 million people and this includes the government officials and decision makers at it topmost level.

Pixabay

Some of Yi’s other work in the field of prevention of sexual exploitation of children include the launching of project MASOOM. This project was launched by Kailash Satyarthi nationally on 12th March 2017. This project involved spreading awareness about child sexual abuse among the teachers and parents by conducting various workshops and seminars. Yi also visited various schools to educate the children about safe and unsafe touch. They organized various public rallies and campaigns to make the general public aware as well.

“In no time a large number of people gathered and began shaking hands with me. Everyone welcomed me. And we easily rescued the children as our women activists entered the workshop and spotted the kids.”

The rescued children will be taken to a centre run by Satyarthi’s NGO for rehabilitation, he said. The workshop has been sealed and a police case has been filed against the absconding owner. (IANS)

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Kolkata, April 22, 2017: Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi on Saturday said the world lacks enough “global political will” to prioritise children and adequate budgetary allocations have not been made for education, health and child protection.

“There is a need of global political will to prioritise children and that is not so adequate which is supposed to be. I always call upon the government to protect one generation. You need not to worry about next generation. They will protect themselves.

“Unfortunately, we do not have the enough global political will where children are prioritised, the policies are for the betterment of the children, laws are properly enforced and where adequate budgetary allocations are made to ensure education, health and protection of children,” said Satyarthi at an interactive session with Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.

Satyarthi, whose organisation has been working in 144 countries across the world for child protection and was as jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, said there is strong correlation between child labour and unemployment.

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“Globally, 168 million child labourers are working in the harshest conditions while 210 million adults are jobless,” he said

Citing National Crime Records Bureau data, he said 11 children go missing in India every hour and half of them are never rescued.

Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ programme, he said: “Girl child is not safe. Most of them do not feel safe at home as they are often sexually abused by their relatives. Even the boys are not safe.”

He called for a collective moral responsibility from every citizen as well as corporates and the government to come forward for the protecting children. (IANS)